Body-area sensor network featuring micropyramids for sports healthcare

Monitoring physiological signals of the human body can provide extremely important information for sports healthcare, preventing injuries and providing efficient guidance for individual sports. However, the signals related to human healthcare involve both subtle and vigorous signals, making it difficult for a sensor to satisfy the full-scale monitoring at the same time. Here, a novel conductive elastomer featuring homogeneously micropyramid-structured PDMS/CNT composite is used to fabricate high-performance piezoresistive sensors by a drop-casting method. Benefiting from the significant increase in the contact area of microstructure during deformation, the flexible sensor presents a broad detection range (up to 185.5 kPa), fast response/recovery time (44/13 ms), ultrahigh sensitivity (242.4 kPa(-1)) and excellent durability over 8,000 cycles. As a proof of concept, the as-fabricated pressure sensor can be used for body-area sports healthcare, and enable the detection of full-scale pressure distribution. Considering the fabulous sensing performance, the sensor may potentially become promising in personal sports healthcare and telemedicine monitoring.

Automated summary

Monitoring physiological signals of the human body is crucial for sports healthcare and injury prevention. This article presents the development of a high-performance piezoresistive sensor using a conductive elastomer with micro-structured PDMS/CNT composite. The sensor demonstrates a broad detection range, fast response/recovery time, ultrahigh sensitivity, and excellent durability, making it potentially valuable for personal sports healthcare and telemedicine monitoring.